WO 98/47842 describes and claims novel 3-alkylcycloalkanols of formula 1: where R1 represents a methyl, ethyl or propyl group; R2, R4 and R5 independently represent hydrogen or a methyl group; R3 represents a saturated hydrocarbon group with 4-8 carbon atoms, provided that the first carbon atom of this hydrocarbon group is not a tertiary carbon atom; and n represents the numbers 1, 2 and 3. These 3-alkylcycloalkanols are useful fragrance materials which find use in perfumes and perfumed products. One particularly preferred material is 1-methyl-3-(2-methylpropyl) cyclohexan-1-ol (also known as 3-(2-methylpropyl)-1-methylcyclohexanol) which has the structure: i.e. R1=CH3, R2=H, R3=isobutyl, R4=H, R5=H and n=2 in formula 1.
The present invention concerns a novel process for producing certain of the 3-alkylcycloalkanols of formula 1, including 1-methyl-3-(2-methylpropyl) cyclohexan-1-ol.